Buried at the end of Dave Meltzer’s latest column at Yahoo! Sports regarding the health of the MMA business is this little tidbit about DREAM’s possible plans to put a fight together between Japan’s most hated fighter, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and their most beloved foreign fighter, Mirko Cro Cop:

Under the gun to draw ratings, the company is attempting to put together middleweight Akiyama against heavyweight Mirko Cro Cop, the country’s most popular foreign fighter.

Really? A top tier middlweight against a top tier heavyweight? Is DREAM doing so bad that it would really put this matchup together? It seems a little farfetched, especially since Cro Cop vs. Allistair Overeem is being rumored for the next DREAM, but Japanese promotions have done crazier fights in the past. Usually freakshow fights favor one fighter heavily over the other, such as Choi vs. Fedor, but this is a matchup that I have no interest in seeing. Perhaps the Japanese simply want to see Akiyama get smashed by Cro Cop because they hate him so much? That’s the only plausible reason I could see for putting on this fight. Here’s to hoping it doesn’t happen, but don’t color me surprised if it does.

Cro Cop-Akiyama is a bigger fight in Japan then Cro Cop-Overeem is. If this happens, I hope they rematch Kharitonov with Overeem. Sergei is slowly becoming the Antonio Margarito of the MMA world where a lot of people are dodging him. I really wish he would have got the title fight against Silva on the EliteXC card.

I really don't understand why everyone freaks out as much as they do with fighers from different weight classes battling it out.I mean this is Mixed Martial Arts not boxing.People talk about how much different MMA is from boxing,and bitch about people attempting to make MMA too much like boxing,yet gladly put down a smaller guy taking on a bigger opponent.I would rather see these supposed "freakshow" fights happen,as opposed to getting a very watered down system of 14 weight classes with a bunch of useless titles.

For a long time one of the whole trademarks of Martial Arts was for a smaller man to learn to defend against a bigger,stronger,opponent.Now granted times have changed,and the playing field is a little different when the bigger guys can have just as much skill as a smaller guy,but I think the idea should remain.

I know this is not popular opinion,but I think one thing a lot of people fail to understand is that the Japanese have a different outlook on MMA than the western world.If you look at Japanese MMA with western eyes, you miss the point all together.The Japanese don't need to worry about a lot of the things the western world does involving MMA,granted they do have their own problems though.A fight like this will probably draw a good audience and boost the ratings for DREAM.

The sport is in a depression in Japan,but despite all this,they still have a built in audience that is probably bigger than will ever be here in the states.

Last edited 7/30/08 7:22AM server time by mrsmileyEdit note/reason: n/a

i totally f*ck*n agree wit u on that the hardcore fans wanna see overeem vs cro cop thats a real fight both top level fighters.......ive been waitin for my boy overeem to get a crack at cro cop forever......i sure hope they dont f**k shit up now.........cuz overeem is on the rise and as far as kharitonov he is a mean dude i agree wit that but ppl dodging him is pure bullsh*t overeem never dodged him he might of lost but it was a good fight!!!!! i think kharitonov and overeem will meet again in the future for the rubber match!!!!!

Lol, im not sure.. ask joshryanshepard, oh.. and never pick Jake O'Brien against Cain Velasquez. What a shame, it would have given me great pleasure to see someone with an awful Liza Minnelli/ David Gist avatar...

-Edit- Oh by the way, I clicked on his profile and it said Invalid Id!.. Is he banned? He does not have Banned listed under his name on the forums?

Last edited 7/30/08 10:31PM server time by candynutsEdit note/reason: n/a

Rumor is true although Cro Cop and his managment want Overeem Dream is really pushing for it. They feel this could be their defining fight that brings them out of the Pride stigma and into their own light. We'll see how it goes down.

Lol, im not sure.. ask joshryanshepard, oh.. and never pick Jake O'Brien against Cain Velasquez. What a shame, it would have given me great pleasure to see someone with an awful Liza Minnelli/ David Gist avatar...